Independent 11,212 by Lark

Today we have a new setter in Lark. I’ve not been paying much attention to the news, anything else happening today?

I guess setters and editors have been busy scrabbling through upcoming puzzles to ensure and references to the late queen are at least tasteful. This seems a plain puzzle, the grid looks ripe for a perimeter message but I can’t see anything or theme today. A fine debut, thank you Lark.

 

 picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
6. They harvest about one every second (7)
REAPERS

RE- about & A – one & PER – every & S(econd)

8. Returning priest’s collection of scripture with volume missing (6)
SILENT

Crossword staple ELI for priest & ‘S reversed & N(ew) T(estament)

9. Fishermen avoiding large nettles (6)
ANGERS

L(arge) removed from ANG(L)ERS

10. Macbeth’s old hag endlessly goes around this (8)
CAULDRON

AULD – scottish for OLD with an endless CRON(e) around, definition as clue.

11. Defeat leader in shot put (4)
SLAY

First letter of L(eader) & LAY – put

12. Cavalier opponents rushed and managed to score zero (10)
ROUNDHEADS

O for zero inside a managed [RUSHED AND]*

13. Fat amateur sleuth with attitude (7)
ADIPOSE

A(mateur) & DI – sleuth & POSE – attitude

15. Westbound motorists regularly entangled in violence (7)
CARNAGE

The RAC reversed & alternate letters of eNtAnGlEd

19. Daughter putting on clothes after a talking to (10)
ADDRESSING

The A from the end of the wordplay & D(aughter) & DRESSING

22. Bridge partners finding two highest cards unconvincing (4)
WEAK

West & East – partners in a game of bridge & A(ce) & K(ing) – highest value cards

23. Outpouring of energy following nuclear reaction (8)
EFFUSION

E(nergy) & F(ollowing) & FUSION – type of nuclear reaction

24. Upset about current times, knocked back drink, that might help (6)
ELIXIR

I – (electrical current) & X – times inside RILE – upset all reversed

25. Barely manage to get fix (6)
SCRAPE

Double defintion. Fix as in “in a mess”

26. Spectator‘s informal greeting overheard (7)
WATCHER

Sounds like “wotcha”

DOWN
1. Metal plated nuts in old car (8)
IRONCLAD

[IN OLD CAR]* gone nuts

2. Acolyte fastidiously keeping up security (6)
SAFETY

Hidden reversed in acolYTE FAStidiously

3. People going frantic in centre of rural southeast, surrounded by idiots (8)
BERSERKS

Centre of ruRal & SE all in BERKS

4. Have some flexibility about hosting Liberal club (8)
BLUDGEON

BUDGE – some flexiblity, it can move & ON for about with L(iberal) inserted

5. Remove stuff from middle of your land for renovation (6)
UNLOAD

A renovated [uOUr LAND]*

7. Sensation appears to start around funny bone (6)
SACRUM

A bone at the base of the spine- starts of S(ensational) A(ppears) & C for circa – acout & RUM – odd, funny

8. Swimmer, one forced out by American team (5)
SQUAD

SQUID with I for one replaced by A(merican)

14. University grant primarily opening door for EU member (8)
PORTUGAL

U(niversity) & G(rant) both inside PORTAL for door

16. Expands Desolation of Smaug to include Treebeard? (8)
AUGMENTS

A desolated SMAUG* with ENT inserted, Treebeard was an ENT in Tolkien’s world

17. Flowers (gradually) appearing in cold regions (8)
GLACIERS

Cryptic def

18. Small fish – the smallest present (6)
MINNOW

Min(imum) – smallest & NOW – present

20. Failing of French bankers’ domain outlined by their newspaper (6)
DEFECT

DE – “of” in French & EC the City of London – the “banker’s domain” inside the FT – the banker’s newspaper

21. Eccentric priest briefly achieves ecclesiastical prominence (5)
SPIRE

An eccentric {PRIES(t)]*

22. Author concealing her first twist (6)
WRITHE

WRITE – to author with H(er) inserted

 

13 comments on “Independent 11,212 by Lark”

  1. A very enjoyable debut. I particularly liked the deceptive definition for SILENT and the clever CAULDRON. Didn’t spot a theme (although I felt, with a bit of tweaking, a Buffy theme could be obtained, e.g. SPIKE in place of SPIRE). Obviously you meant to write ‘first letter of SHOT’ in 11a.

  2. Some delightful stuff here; like Hovis @1, I particularly liked SILENT and CAULDRON; also I thought WRITHE was cleverly done, with “author” being a verb rather than the noun one expects. AUGMENTS is a lovely clue provided you are familiar with the writings of J R R Tolkien, but if you aren’t, you haven’t a hope. Have we reached the point where familiarity with Tolkien is assumed in the same way as knowing that NT and OT are collections of scripture?
    CARNAGE reminded me of a criminology lecturer many years ago remarking thoughtfully “Motorists, of course, are the only criminals to have a trade union. In fact they have two – one has a blue badge, the other a yellow one…”
    Thanks to Lark and flashling.
    Oh, and I think they may have tweaked the Indy site so that it isn’t quite as user-unfriendly as it used to be. If I’m right about that, as opposed to just being less incompetent than usual this morning, thank you to whoever was responsible

  3. I struggled a bit in the NE corner but with a bit of rather too time-consuming detective work got there in the end. NeilH @ 3, for some of us the writings of JRR Tolkien may be more familiar than those of Shakespeare, as at 10A, of which common knowledge seems to be assumed in cruciverbalism. Super puzzle, so congratulations to Lark on his/her debut, and of course to Flashling.

  4. I was delighted to see ENT make an appearance as I now have a published source to which to refer should I do same which I’ve been tempted to do many times. GK is a tricky thing, indeed.

    I didn’t find this particularly easy and will confess to some judicious use of the Check Button towards the end. I didn’t parse CAULDRON and the biggest PDM came with GLACIERS. That one was a bung and pray with only the A as crosser. And it was one of those I checked and then stared at for ages trying to make sense of the clue. And then the resounding clang – quite delightful.

    All in all a lovely debut puzzle (though, for some odd reason, the setter name rings a faint bell. I have no idea why). Favourites included: REAPERS, ANGERS, ADDRESSING, EFFUSION, WATCHER, IRONCLAD, SAFETY, AUGMENTS, GLACIERS, DEFECT and WRITHE. Quite along list and impossible to nominate a favourite from so many worthy contenders.

    Thanks Lark and flashling

  5. Same complimentary remarks as made by others. I mistakenly thought CAULDRON was a cryptic def and made the opposite mistake for GLACIERS, trying to make ‘Flowers’ as the def and the rest of the clue as wordplay.

    I’ve learnt that BERSERK(S) can be a noun; according to Chambers it’s an alternative to “berserkers” which I had seen before.

    Thanks and welcome to Lark and to flashling

  6. Thanks Lark and flashling

    A promising and enjoyable debut.

    Given the climate emergency, I’m not sure that 17 isn’t more accurately “Flowers (gradually) disappearing in cold regions”!

  7. An enjoyable puzzle. We knew of Smaug but not Treebeard or that the latter was an ent – must remember that ent as an alternative to the ‘hospital department’ chestnut.
    Thanks, Lark and flashling, and welcome to Lark.

  8. Great debut, thanks Lark. Many good clues including SILENT, WEAK, MINNOW, and SPIRE among them. Loved the surface for AUGMENTS. Thanks flashling for the blog.

  9. Busy watching and weeping yesterday but did solve the puzzle later, found it quite tough for a Monday, and wanted to welcome Lark to the ranks.
    Think CAULDRON was my favourite but there were several other worthy contenders.

    Thanks to Lark and to flashling for the review.

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